Minimum wage rises

TUMWATER  The state’s minimum wage will rise to $9.32 per hour on New Year’s Day.

The state Department of Labor and Industries calculates the minimum wage each year as required by Initiative 688, approved by Washington voters in 1998.

The 13-cent-per-hour increase, from $9.19 to $9.32 an hour, reflects a 1.455 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers over the 12 months ending Aug. 31, 2013.

The increase was announced in August by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Washington is one of 10 states that adjust the minimum wage based on inflation and the CPI. The others are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon and Vermont.

Washington has the highest minimum wage, followed by Oregon. That state’s 2014 minimum wage will rise by 15 cents, to $9.10 per hour, in 2014.

Washington’s minimum wage applies to workers in both agricultural and non-agricultural jobs, although 14- and 15-year-olds may be paid 85 percent of the adult minimum wage, or $7.92 per hour in 2014.